Huskies need to break out a beating

Published 10:00 pm, Friday, November 10, 2006

Washington losing to Stanford today would throw a bucket of excrement onto the limited but significant accomplishments attained in Year Two of the Tyrone Willingham Era.

A defeat to the worst Pac-10 team in recent memory -- a 19-point underdog -- would be a humiliating sendoff for the least successful senior class in program history in their last game at Husky Stadium.

Not even an upset win in the Apple Cup the following Saturday would provide redemption.

Losing to a rival cuts deep, particularly for a third consecutive time. But the Huskies figure to be underdogs in Pullman, so the enduring damage would be minimal.

Losing to Stanford would make them a national laughing stock -- it would garner wisecracking attention on ESPN -- and the ensuing reaction certainly wouldn't help sell the program on the recruiting trail.

At this point, enmeshed in a five-game losing streak, the Huskies need to deliver a businesslike whipping more than they need to rally emotionally and overachieve in a rivalry game.

They did the "overachieve" thing while losing at USC and California. They notched an emotional, winning rally against UCLA.

What they really need is another performance like their visit to Arizona, which was an assertion of will against an inferior team. Priority one for rebuilding programs is learning to beat teams they are supposed to beat.

A face plant today would mean the Huskies have failed to connect the dots on how critical focus and consistent effort are for becoming a winner. It would manifest a disconnect between what Willingham and his staff are saying and what the players are doing.

The Huskies need to establish a boundary that separates them from the bottom of the conference. They need to send a message that the program is trending up from bad toward mediocre, with clear intentions of continuing that trajectory until they rejoin the top third of the conference.

And that's what will happen today. The Cardinal will have to take its bucket of excrement back to Palo Alto.

The Huskies will win. They will not choke.

And that will make 2006 a successful season, even if they go splat the following Saturday at WSU.

That's not the attitude the team should have, of course. It sure as heck won't be the opinion Willingham will espouse. And few ardent Huskies fans -- fulminating at the very notion of shrugging their shoulders over another Apple Cup defeat -- will be satisfied with anything less than two more victories, a 6-6 record and a potential scramble into a low-rung bowl game.

Two more wins is far from an implausible scenario. The UW should and will beat the Cardinal, and the injury-riddled Cougars are hardly a juggernaut.

But realistic Huskies fans should not shake their fists at the heavens over a potential 5-7 finish, which would include three conference victories, two more than the previous two seasons combined.

The UW was tapped 10th in the preseason media poll. Most folks -- media and fans -- glanced over the schedule and said, "Hmm ... surely San Jose State ... maybe Fresno State ... perhaps Stanford ... so that's three wins, maybe four, if they're lucky."

It would be fair to say three wins was the over-under, and plenty of folks were betting the under.

By almost any measure, other than Willingham's near-guarantee in August of a bowl berth, five wins exceeds even optimistic preseason expectations filtered through purple-colored lenses.

It certainly does when the starting quarterback, a player who was more important to his team than any other individual in the conference, doesn't play over the second half of the season, as has been the case with Isaiah Stanback.

It's not unreasonable to assert the Huskies would have won six or seven games with Stanback, the linchpin of the 4-1 start, still calling the shots.

But, really, splitting hairs over what degree of mediocrity the Huskies attain this year is a moot point.

The critical issue is whether the program is developing positive momentum.

The best measure of the program's kinetic energy will be recruiting. Snatching a sixth victory isn't nearly as important as re-establishing the UW as the recruiting force of the Northwest, one that consistently finishes in the top 25 of the recruiting rankings every February.

The Huskies presently own 10 commitments. Of the group, only Lake Washington High School tight end Chris Izbicki is considered elite. He was offered a scholarship by almost every Pac-10 school -- except USC -- and Rivals.com and Scout.com both rank him a four-star recruit.

As of Thursday, Rivals.com rates the UW commitment list fifth in the Pac-10 and 47th in the nation. Willingham needs both those numbers to improve.

Willingham was asked this week if he was concerned that his players might be beaten down by their losing streak after a surprisingly strong start. His answer was pitch-perfect.